If Only He Could Hear Himself
(I have “Deaf friendly” on my nametag. After a customer, who is maybe in his fifties, and I have an ENTIRELY VERBAL conversation, at the end of the transaction he stops me directly in the middle of my “have a good day,” and we engage in the following:)
Me: “Okay, have a good da—”
Man: “Can you hear me?”
Me: “Wh… what?”
Man: “CAN YOU HEAR ME WHEN I AM SPEAKING? DO YOU HEAR ME TALKING RIGHT NOW?”
Me: “What?! I can hear you, yeah…”
Man: “You’re not deaf?”
Me: “What?”
Man: “ARE YOU DEAF?”
Me: “Uh, no, I’m hearing. I can hear you right now.”
Man: “But your nametag says ‘DEAF friendly.’ You’re not deaf?”
Me: “No, I know ASL and am also an interpreting student.”
Man: “Well, that’s not right; you should specify you’re hearing. That way people won’t think you’re a… deaf person.”
Me: “I’m confused, I’m sorry.”
Man: “You should write ‘hearing’ on your nametag so people don’t misunderstand your confusing nametag.”
Me: “So you want me to publicly announce my hearing status on my nametag, rather than have me keep my current one, which indicates I can communicate in another language if needed?”
Man: “Well… I don’t know. So you’re NOT deaf, right?”
Me: No, sir.”
Man: “Ok, see ya!”
(This… this is a horror story to put in the books. He was rude about it and was serious about my nametag suggestion… Too funny to NOT share!)
Question of the Week
Have you ever served a bad customer who got what they deserved?
